Picture Perfect
by lilabut
Summary: Bella has hurt Jacob and tries to apologize. She never considered how tiny photo booths actually are. Not until this day. Rated M for slight language and sensual situation.


I was given the following prompts:

Teen!Bella hurts Jacob's feelings when she laughs off his Christmas present to her. Guilt-stricken, she tries to make it up to him in a variety of ways

Jacob and Bella in a photo booth

Jacob accidentally grabbing a certain body part of Bella's

Jacob notsoaccidentally grabbing a body part of Bella's

* * *

Picture Perfect

Bella nervously fumbled at the hem of her sweater, her bottom lip caught between her front teeth – a nervous habit she could not seem to get rid of no matter how hard she tried to.

Standing in the middle of the crowded mall, she felt smaller and more fragile than she already did on normal days, those regular days she spent at home, or at work, or at Jake's place. There were never many people around her, much fewer who she actually allowed _in_. So, standing here with hundreds of busy people, head-over-heels-in-love couples, crying children, slow old ladies and stressed employees, Bella felt more out of place than she had in a long time.

She had always hated malls. Not just because of the sheer amount of people, but because of the way there seemed to be a second life, a parallel universe within these walls. Nothing seemed to be connected to the outside world – not her's, at least.

But this was her one shot, the only real substantial chance she saw in making up for what she had done. Her mistake had been beyond disgraceful. Humiliating. Downright evil. Well, maybe not _evil_ because her intention had definitely not been to hurt anyone. Maybe _stupid_ would be more fitting.

Exhaling deeply, Bella checked herself for the millionth time in the huge reflecting window of the store right next to her. None of the clothes would have suited her, all of them being bright and lacking fabric. When she saw her reflection looking back at her, hair slightly damp from the constant snow outside and face flushed, Bella started thinking that maybe her entire plan was worthless. Maybe, what Jacob really wanted and needed was a girl who would be able to wear all those clothes. Someone who was as alive and joyful as they all were.

And Bella knew very well that she suited none of those characteristics.

She checked the big watch on the ceiling, framed by lights just as bright and colourful as Bella would never be. They should be here by now. Maybe...

No, she had to trust Quil. She knew and hated that he was a big supporter of _Bella and Jacob finally getting over being just friends_, but today, his obsession with helping them worked in her favour. Or, so she hoped.

She needed Quil to get Jacob here. Much like her, this was a place Jacob would usually avoid. Not quite for the same reasons Bella did, but solely because he would find nothing of interest to him.

Jacob had not answered her calls in a week, had ignored her visit three days ago. It was the last day of the year now and Bella was feeling as guilty as one can feel on this day. She did not want to start a new year on bad terms with Jacob.

But since he would not listen to any of her excuses, she had to utilize more drastic matters like using Quil to get Jacob here.

Her heartbeat increased in speed as she saw two tall, russet-skinned man approaching her, their heads floating above the mass of people rushing from one store to the other – most likely returning a bunch of unnecessary Christmas gifts.

That thought stung Bella's heart and she felt sweat on her palms as Quil and a very annoyed looking Jacob came to a step only a few feet away from her. Jacob had not noticed her.

"Man, what the hell do you want to show me that is so damn important? I'm not going to let you show me around the Barbie sec-" Jacob stopped wining when his eyes met Bella's, and for a second she feared he would just turn on his heels and walk away from her. "You can't be serious."

Neither Bella nor Quil knew who exactly Jacob was talking to, but they had a feeling he was addressing the both of them.

"Sorry, dude. But honestly, you're being a little... overdramatic. Have fun," Quil said joyfully, clapping Jacob on the shoulder, winking in Bella's direction and quickly disappearing into the crowd as if he was scared Jacob would kill him right on the spot any second.

For a minute, Bella and Jacob just stared at each other, the world around them turning, people continuing their shopping, talking, fighting, kissing. Still, everything Bella noticed was the expression of utter disappointment in Jacob's eyes.

"What is this all about?" he finally asked, not stepping closer to her, but keeping his voice loud enough for people around them to understand his every word, should they decide to listen to a tall, handsome, dangerous-looking man and a tiny, intimated young woman.

"I want to apologize but... you wouldn't let me. I tried but... This is... _please_, Jake. I'm really sorry. Okay? I was being... stupid and inappropriate and thoughtless and a monster. And there is no way I can make up for that. But I want to apologize and... I don't get why you won't give me a chance."

Bella kept her voice almost like a whisper, not wanting to share her grief with everyone and knowing very well that Jacob could probably even hear the beating of her heart, so a quiet voice should be no problem to him. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest now, staring at her thoroughly.

"You laughed at me, Bella. I spent a lot of time carving that charm and you laughed at it. Like... I can't even believe you did that. I thought it would _mea_n something to you. Because it surely means something to me. _You_ mean something to me. Hell, you mean way too much to me and you know that. And then you go do something like that. It's like I would go and plaster the town with pictures of your fucking leech. That would huert, right? That's how you hurt me. You're ungrateful, Bella. And honestly, I don't even know how you want to apologize."

Bella stood there in the crowd, facing Jacob, tears gathering in her eyes, her heart racing, her throat clenching. He was right. Every single word.

Was there a way for her out of this?

"Jake," she whimpered with a tear-broken voice, wrapping her arms around her midsection. Keeping herself from falling apart once again, although she had sworn herself never to reach this edge of the cliff again. Never to let it come this far. "I really am sorry. And I can't even explain why I did that because I honestly don't know. I couldn't stop it. I probably shouldn't have had that glogg before I came over. I love the charm, it's beautiful. And it does mean something to me, _you_ mean so much to me and-"

Before Bella could finish trying to talk Jacob out of abandoning her, she felt herself wrapped in two warm, strong arms, her feet lifting from the ground and the bright colours around her blurring from her tears and the spin as Jacob swirled her through the air, his face buried in her neck.

Her lungs started to protest, but Bella would rather have suffocated than entangling herself from Jacob's embrace. Instead, she closed her eyes, inhaling the woodsy scent she had missed so much since Christmas, and felt how slowly, her feet began to sink back to the ground.

"Did you just say you were drunk?" Jacob asked, his breath fanning against Bella's neck, causing her to shiver despite the warmth of his body pressed against her's.

"Well, I only had one glass," Bella whispered, unable to really concentrate and quite embarrassed by the effects alcohol seemed to have on her.

"Bells, you know you don't jar with alcohol. Crap, and I thought you were… I'm so sorry. I should've given you a chance to talk."

Slowly, and much to Bella's dislike, Jacob unwrapped his arms and drew back his head, giving her his best sunshine-smile.

"_I'm_ sorry, Jake. Even if I was… well, not quite sane," Bella whispered, feeling the rips in her chest being stuffed with light and warmth and something that reminded her of cotton candy.

"So, why exactly did Quil have to drag me here?" Jacob asked, quickly changing the subject, looking around with his forehead wrinkled in confusion.

Bella felt nervousness creep back into her mind and suddenly, her brilliant plan seemed way too pathetic. But she could not think of an alternate story. She would have to go through with this.

With slightly trembling hands, she pointed to the photo booth next to them.

"You always complain that you don't have a picture with the both of us on it except that one of us muddy on the beach as kids. So, I thought… since I never got you a present… But it's okay if you think this is totally stupid and childish and-"

Bella was once again interrupted, her outstretched hand grabbed by Jacob's warm fingers and pulled right into the direction of the booth.

"Get in there," Jacob ordered with a bright grin on his face, reaching inside the pockets of his cut-offs to look for his wallet.

"No way, this is my gift to you. I'm paying for these," Bella protested, the coins already in the pocket of her jeans. She was – for once – quicker than Jacob, pushing the money into his palm before pulling aside the red curtain and climbing inside the booth.

Her palm suddenly got sweaty again. _Crap_. Throughout all of her entire genius planning of this, she had not considered how tiny these booths were. There was barely any room for her alone to make herself comfortable. How would Jake fit inside? And even more important: how would the two of them fit inside this thing?

But before the various thoughts in Bella's head could get too vivid, Jacob's head peeked through the curtain, and with the same grin still etched onto his face, he started to climb into the booth.

"Watch out!" Bella yelled as Jacob stepped onto her shoe, luckily missing her toe by a mere inch. She probably would not have been able to walk for an entire week.

Jacob's knees bumped into Bella's thighs several times as he tried to sit down on the small bench, his hands trying to find purchase on the smooth walls.

Just as Bella though they had found a way for Jacob to sit down, his hand slipped from the wall of the booth and he stumbled forward, trying to catch balance, but the room was way too low and cramped for him to do that.

It took Bella about two seconds to realize where Jacob's face was and where his hand had fallen. Another second for her entire skin to flush deep red. Another one for her heart to race faster than it had this entire day, one more for her to stop breathing altogether.

She looked into Jacob's eyes, only a few inches away from her own, his warm breath fanning her cheeks. He gulped, not daring to look down or move but an inch.

It were Bella's eyes that first drifted downwards, mostly because she could not bare to look into Jacob's shocked eyes for a second longer, and she too gulped when she saw his huge hand resting right on her lap, three of his fingers having slipped between her thighs, resting against the denim of her jeans – way too close to where she now felt heat and tingling and –

"Imsorry," Jacob muttered quickly, removing his hand carefully. It was too slow, the movement of his hand. Too experimental. The shiver that ran through Bella's entire body was foreign to her, scared her. But in an adrenaline-rush-kind-of-scared.

She tried to ignore what had happened, waving her hand before sitting more straight, waiting for Jacob to sit down next to her.

The air in the booth was thick, no sound from outside seeming to enter this cage of awkwardness.

"So, how does this work exactly?" Bella asked, technically sure she would be able to figure this machine out, but trying hard to keep up a normal _Jake and Bells conversation_.

"Oh, ehm… yeah, let me do that," Jacob said a little too confused and Bella knew his mind had been in the exact same place her's had been. That warmth, the goose bumps, the thrill in her every vein, the-

"Come on, Bells. Four seconds until number one." Jacob suddenly said, stopping Bella's thoughts from taking a path she had no knowledge of, no orientation.

Before Bella could really let his words sink in, a flash blinded her and she knew that this had to be the most ridiculous picture ever taken by such a booth.

"Probably sucks," Jacob said, laughing. His laughter sounded shallow, though, much less honest than it usually did.

"Yeah, probably," Bella agreed, clearing her throat.

"Well, we have three more."

"Great."

Bella watched Jacob press some buttons on the display in front of them, which turned out not to be the best idea because looking at his hands, all she could think about was how they had felt every time he had held her hand in his. It had meant nothing to her all this time, but now she realized what it _could_ mean.

"Okay, now _smile_," Jacob grinned, suddenly wrapping his arm around Bella's shoulder. She looked up at his face with another blush tinting her cheeks. Before she had the chance to turn around and smile, the flash blinded her again.

"Bells, come on. At least one picture where you look into the camera," Jacob joked, leaving his arm around her shoulder while his other hand went back to the display.

Bella wondered how he could keep up this charade all of a sudden, but then she saw the uncertainty in his eyes reflecting from the display and she slowly became aware of the slight tremble in his arm around her shoulder.

Bella felt her lips tingle as Jacob leaned back, his fingers lightly brushing against her shoulder, and before she knew it, she was leaning her head against his side, smiling right into the camera.

After the flash, Bella closed her eyes, leaning even more into the warmth of Jacob's body.

"T-that's a nice picture, I'm s-sure," Jacob stuttered, keeping completely still with the exception of his still trembling arms.

"Hmmhm," Bella murmured peacefully.

"Bells," Jacob whispered, the warm touch of his hand against her shoulder tightening a little. "There's one picture left."

Bella slowly let her eyelids drift open, pulling out of their embrace against her will. She looked up at Jacob's questioning and unsure face, reaching out her hand to rest her still sweaty palm against his cheek.

"I don't care," she whispered, smiling slightly, before everything became a blur and she suddenly felt the soft but urgent warmth of Jacob's lips against her own.

There was no hesitation, no restraint. Bella knew, although she could not explain, that this was good and real and that there was no actual reason for her not to move her lips against Jacob's, not to softly move her hand from his cheek to his neck, letting his silky hair run smoothly through her fingers, her other hand almost desperately gripping the hem of Jacob's shirt, not moving, but daringly close to doing so.

She heard herself whimper as if she were outside of her body, yet she could feel every sensation, every nerve as Jacob's tongue gently brushed against her bottom lip, his arm moving from her shoulder to her cheek, neck, collarbone, side and down to her waist, leaving a trail of goose bumps on its way.

Shivers running through parts of her body that Bella had not been aware of until this very moment made her sigh against Jacob's lips as she parted her own, feeling his tongue carefully move further than her lips, almost a little hesitantly. This was not how she wanted him to feel, not when she felt so determined and sure of this, herself. So, in an act of boldness that scared her a bit, Bella slipped her flat palm beneath Jacob's shirt, running her fingernails gently over his smooth, warm skin, feeling every ridge of his abdomen.

The suppressed grunt that her action caused was encouragement enough for Bella to continue running her hand up and down Jacob's stomach, feeling him tremble beneath her touch. All the while, the heat burning inside of her made her desperate, causing her to shift closer to Jacob like a magnet.

He groaned again, his hand moving up and down Bella's side. It seemed to her that he was still hesitating, his hand not going where he really wanted it to, and so she arched her back, moaning quietly against his mouth, their heavy breathing not able to drown out that sound.

It only took Jacob a second to comprehend and Bella's fingers dug deep into the stone-like muscles of Jacob's abdomen when he rested his hand on her right breast, the warmth of his touch awakening every nerve ending that had been untouched by this electricity so far.

Just as Bella was about to crawl out of her skin, the desperate need to feel Jacob's hand touching her skin without the barrier of her sweater, a bright light flashed against her closed eyelids. She felt Jacob's grin against her lips, and when his thumb brushed over her nipple, every protest she had wanted to express was drowned out.

Quil was very proud of himself when Jacob phased on January 1st.


End file.
